Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace
by thunderbunny
Summary: Season 7 of American Idol is full of talented musicians, new friendships & new relationships. But it's not Idol unless there's some drama. The newest chapters are April 10th and 11th.
1. October 12th, 2007

I stood in line at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee with what seemed like a million more people than the first rounds of auditions in August to get my number for season 7 of _American Idol_. I had passed through the 3 preliminary rounds well with little to no nerves. Each time I had sung _Hurt_ by Christina Aguilera but had decided to take more of a risk today. I wanted to make an impression on Randy, Paula and Simon and I knew that the only way to do this was to look and sound like a strong, Shirley Manson type rocker with a great voice. Rock music was what I loved anyway so it made things much easier. No one knew exactly where I was at this moment because I didn't want a lot of questions about it before it was more of a real thing. I just told everyone that I was going to a coaching clinic out of town for a few days to learn more difficult stunts for my cheerleaders to do. Everyone bought it since they knew from the minute I had taken over the cheerleaders I was trying to learn all I could to be the best coach for them. We had 3 guys make the team this year, the first guys on the squad since the 70's, and everyone knew that I wanted to get a bid to nationals this year. If anyone knew that this 26 year old Little Rock, Arkansas math teacher with grand cheerleading aspirations was possibly going to throw it all away to sing on national television I'd never hear the end of it.

I got my number, 2424, and was feeling a bit of luck as I placed it on my stomach since 24 was my lucky number. I tried my best to not over practice my song so it would sound genuine. Once they called my row to go line up I popped the headphones of my IPod in my ears and listened to the arrangement the choir teacher at my school had recorded for me. I told her that I wanted to do something for the school talent show, not that I wanted to take a rock song and crank up the difficulty for _American Idol_. I'd hum every once in a while, but didn't want to really say to do anything to get me noticed. There were a few in my group that were obviously there for their 15 minutes of fame and I didn't want to get portrayed that way. I was there by myself and that was already enough to get me some looks.

When the girl in front of me went in, I took my headphones off and put them in my pocket. I ran my hands through my shoulder length brown hair and straightened the front of my red t-shirt. It had 2 arms coming down from the shoulder seams down the front on the shirt covered in tattoos. I thought with all the tattoos on the arms on the shirt that they might overlook the 2 of the 4 real tattoos on me that could be seen. I had a purple pi symbol on my right wrist and a blue star with a red cherry blossom on my right foot that were visible at this moment.

When the girl before me walked out without a golden ticket, I stood up and walked towards Ryan Seacrest. He was actually taller than I though, but I am a short girl so everyone is tall compared to me. He put an arm around me and asked me if I was ready. I nodded then walked in the door. I was surprised to see so many cameras and so many people in the room with the judges. They do a great job of hiding all this for TV. I stood on the mark on the floor, cleared my throat and smiled at the judges.

Paula looked up from her papers and said, "So you're name is Jessica Tackett and you're a high school teacher and cheer coach in Little Rock, Arkansas."

I nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"And do you think you can be the next American Idol?" Randy asked as he reached for his Coke cup.

I nodded as I tucked some hair behind my ear. "Yes sir. I think it's time for Idol to have a female rocker."

"Got to love that southern charm." Randy laughed. "And what are you going to sing for us?"

I could feel my hands instantly turn clammy and a hot flash come over me. I tried my best to hide it. "I'm going to sing _Black Hole Sun_ by Soundgarden."

I heard Simon mumble, "This should be interesting." I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and began to sing. By the third line I opened my eyes to see Paula nodding and Simon scribble something on the papers in front of him. They actually let me get through the first verse and the whole chorus before stopping me. They all kind of sat there for a moment before Simon started. "You know, we don't typically have any luck with female rockers or, well, rockers in general.

I nodded and replied, "I'd like to be the exception to that rule."

Simon shot me a cocky smile. "I think you may just be. Randy?"

"I think that was good. Real good. I can hear more than just a rock girl in there but it was cool. I say yes."

Paula bounced in her seat. "It was nice to hear a song for the first time in these auditions and the fact that you rearranged it was nice. I think you're wonderful. I say yes."

Simon nodded. "That's 3 yeses."

I giggled and bounced a bit as I thanked them, got my golden ticket and went outside to show it off. The people sitting outside clapped for me as Ryan gave me a hug. Once I talked to all the people I needed to get my information for Hollywood Week, I ran to my hotel that was just 3 blocks away from the FedEx Forum and sat down to call my parents. I knew they would be excited for me. After I got off the phone, I packed up all my stuff, checked out of the hotel and started my 2 hour drive home.

The whole drive all I could think about was how this would change everything. I would be going to Hollywood in January, during the middle of basketball season, which meant we cheered up to 3 nights a week. That would be when we would be getting ready for state cheer competition to try for our bid to nationals. I'd have to take time off of work. I'd have to find someone to be a fill in coach for me. And that's right when we'd be having semester exams. I hated having exams after Christmas break. Then I started to think what if I made it past Hollywood Week to the top 24. I'd have to quit my job, give up the cheerleaders, find someplace for my 2 dogs and cat to live. I'd have to figure a way to pay my bills without a job. The more I thought about it, the more I was worried about if I did make it how much things would have to change but if I didn't make it I'd be miserable. I tried to shake that feeling out of my head, but I got the feeling that would be my motivation for as long as I lasted in the competition.

I said out loud in my car, "I guess if I'm going to try to make it all the way I need to get into some voice classes and amp up my workout routine." I nodded to myself and started making a mental checklist of all the things I needed to start doing once I got home.


	2. January 7th, 2008

The whole flight from Little Rock to Los Angeles I was a bundle of nerves. I had taken the whole week off of work, but didn't tell anyone why I needed a substitute for 5 days. Thank goodness for personal days. You don't have to explain anything when you ask off. And I hadn't taken any since I started teaching. I was never a fan of not being at work, so I had 8 to use. I was glad getting a cab at the airport was easy. I had only been in a cab once and that was in London, England. I had no idea how to hail one. When I got to the hotel, I checked in and they told me that my roommate was named Carla and she had already checked in. Dinner would be at 7pm in the first ballroom if I wanted to eat with everyone. I thanked them, took my key card and went up to the room. Carla was sitting on one bed and gave me a fake smile as she talked on her cell phone. I got the feeling she was the type that only had her phone away from her ear when she was sleeping and showering and even then there's always speaker phone. I unpacked my stuff, grabbed my cell and my IPod and decided to roam the hotel. It was currently 5pm so I had some time before dinner. I was glad to see that the gym in the basement was large and open 24 hours. I had done a good job since auditions in July to get and keep a workout routine that had helped me loose 30 pounds in 6 months. And they had a tanning bed in the gym which, even though it was probably not the most healthy thing in the world, it was one of the ways I would relax after a hard day and keep a healthy glow to my body. The more I roamed around, the more people I ran into that were here for the same reason I was. I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost 7pm so I started making my way to ballroom number 1. I saw a line had started to form, so I got at the end of it behind a girl with very strange hair. I was all for interesting hair color, I had done some myself in high school, but this looked like a young Cruela Deville. She turned and nodded and I smiled politely at her. The girl in front of her turned, smiled and stuck her hand out towards me.

"Hi! I'm Carly Smithson from San Diego, California." She said in what I thought was either a Scottish or Irish accent. "This is Amanda Overmire from…from…where was it again?"

"Mulberry, Indiana." She answered as she nodded at me again.

"Hi, I'm Jessica Tackett from Little Rock, Arkansas."

"Have you met your roommate yet?" Carly asked.

I laughed. "I listened to her talk on her cell the whole time I was in the room. I'm not even sure what her last name is."

Amanda chuckled. "Well, you can hang with us if you like."

"Thanks." I smiled at both of them. I looked at the people in line. "It seems like there are a million people here."

Carly looked the direction I was looking. "We're going to have to really make an impression to stand out."

I let out a sigh. "I just don't want to get kicked off the first day. I'm all about baby steps right now."

"Amen." Amanda laughed as she playfully punched me in my arm.

The line started to move as we continued to make small talk. We realized we had a lot in common and were on the same floor just a few doors down from each other. After we finished eating we just sat in the ballroom people watching as we continued talking. It seemed like everyone there had something that made them stand out. There was so much smugness in the room you could feel it run over you like molasses. You could also see the quiet, reserved people. They would come in, eat and leave as soon as possible saying as little as possible to the other people at their table or in the ballroom. There were a few young ones with their parents, but not near as many as I expected. Of course it's hard to tell people's ages now-a-days. My junior high students looked and acted like I did when I was a senior. I'm sure there were 16 and 17 year olds here that were acting like they were in their twenties. If these kids only knew that growing up quick isn't as great as it seems. What I wouldn't give to be 16 again.

Carly pointed at a table of guys across the room from us. "Hey, see that guy over there in the grey t-shirt and scarf?" We nodded. "His name is Michael or something like that. I'm the worst with names. He's originally from Australia."

"Wow."

Carly took a sip of her drink. "I met him earlier. He's pretty good. I've heard some of his previous stuff."

Amanda nodded at one of the other guys sitting with him. "What about him?"

Carly shrugged. "I don't know. Haven't met him yet."

"Well, he's cute, that's for sure." I covered my mouth hoping to capture those words before the others heard them. I couldn't believe I said that out loud.

"I don't see a ring." Amanda chuckled as she nudged my shoulder.

I shook my head. "I'm not here for romance."

"None of us are, but that doesn't mean it can't be a perk."

I shook my head again. "I'm going to go get some sleep. I'll see you girls in the morning."

"Meet you in the hallway at 6:30." I nodded, got up from the table and walked to where you deposited the dirty dished to put my cup away. When I glanced at the table I had been sitting at, Carly and Amanda were getting up to leave. I looked at the table the guys were sitting at and they had all disappeared. I shrugged. People watching was something I loved but it could be a curse. So many unknown stories and unanswered questions. I let out a sigh and walked out of the ballroom to the lobby to get in the elevators. The lobby was crawling with people and I heard someone say my name, so I looked over my shoulder to see if it was actually for me or one of the 5 million other Jessica's in the world when I bumped into someone. I turned my attention to the body I ran into as I reached out to balance myself and grab them if needed. I looked into the chest of a very tall man and as my gaze went upward into the greyest eyes I had ever seen I realized it was the guy I saw in the ballroom.

"I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" I had trouble forming words as I felt my cheeks flush. "I wasn't looking where I was going. Sorry."

I shook my head. "No problem. My bad." My bad…my bad! I mentally kicked myself for the stupid comment.

"Are you okay?" He grabbed both of my arms and I felt my heart skip a beat.

I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm just a bit distracted."

He looked around the lobby as he let go of my arms. "It's a bit crazy with everyone in here tonight." I nodded and tucked some hair behind my ear. That was a bad nervous habit I picked up when I was young that I just couldn't seem to break. "I'm David." He stuck his hand out to me.

I took it and replied. "Jessica."

He looked over my shoulder and nodded. "It was nice to meet you Jessica. Hopefully I'll see you around."

I nodded as I bit my lip. He's hands were huge. "Hopefully." He shot me a smile. "Good luck tomorrow."

He started to walk off and I turned to watch him walk away. He had a lovely ass. That was always one of the first things I noticed about a guy. Eyes and ass. Everything else was inconsequential physically for me. He glanced over his shoulder and gave me a smile that made me turn 50 shades of red when I realized he had just caught me checking his backside out. "Maybe I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?" He raised an eyebrow.

I smiled back as I gave him a small shrug. "Your crew can join mine if you want."

He chuckled. "What time?"

"David!"

He looked over his shoulder and help up a finger to the speaker indicating one more moment. "6:30ish." I replied.

He gave me a wink as he nodded. "See you then." He gave a little wave over his shoulder as he hopped towards the direction of the voice that had called to him.

Once I totally turned to see where I was walking I felt my whole body tingle as a small giggle escaped my lips. I tried to suppress it as best I could as I poked the up button for the elevators. I could feel his eyes on me from a distance but fought the urge to look until the elevator doors opened. I glanced in his direction and gave a quick smile as our eyes met then walked into the elevator and collapsed into the corner. I had to focus or this was going to be a useless trip. But holy shit, I'm not a believer in love at first site but I can't remember the last time someone made my pulse quicken that fast.


	3. January 8th, 2008

I woke up at 4:30am, an ungodly hour, to get ready for breakfast. Even after the noise of the shower, hairdryer and all the normal banging noises you make even when you try to stay quiet, Carla hadn't budged. I have no idea when she came in last night. I went to bed at 10pm and put my headphones on so I wouldn't hear her. I guess she found something to do other then talk on her cell phone, or at least a different place to talk on her cell. As soon as I closed the door to my room I saw a very energetic Carly and a zombie like Amanda.

"Good morning." Carly waved.

"There's nothing good this early in the morning without coffee." Amanda grumbled.

I laughed and we all started walking towards the elevator. "I agree and I'm a Starbuck's snob so unless they have a mocha waiting for me, it's going to take some amazing brew."

Amanda nodded and grunted. When the elevator doors opened there were a few sleepy people going downstairs for breakfast also. We kept quiet on the ride down and were surprised how few people were down there knowing that we had to be in the auditorium no later than 8am. I scanned the crowd for David and his posse but didn't see them. I figured he wouldn't make it anyway. He looked like the type that slept 'til noon. As soon as the first whiff of food wafted towards me, my stomach turned. I guess my nerves kicked in. All I could force myself to eat was a plain bagel and a small glace of orange juice and even that was a struggle to get down. When the girls questioned me about it I just claimed diet and they both let it drop. After her cup of coffee Amanda became less zombie like and even started chatting with the other people at our table. It wasn't until I started to get up to put my dished away that I saw David walk in. I could see him scanning the room, so when our eyes met he nodded and started walking towards me. I put my dished up and moved a few steps towards him.

"I'm sorry. My roommate took forever in the shower this morning."

I shook my head. "It's no big deal." I patted his arm. "I'll see you inside."

"Oh, uh…" He looked over his shoulder at his friends. "You want to join us anyway? I know you've already eaten, but, you know…"

I nodded at his friends that were looking our direction. "I wish I could, but I need to practice. Maybe at lunch." I felt a rush of embarrassment sweep over me. I had no idea why I was turning him down. "Good luck today." I smiled at him.

"I'll find you inside, okay. We'll sit together."

I nodded towards his friends. "Sounds good. Now go get something to eat. I'll see you in a little while." I waved at one of his friends that was pointing at us and the guy that Carly said she thought was named Michael smiled and nodded at me. I walked towards the exit where Carly and Amanda were waiting on me as David rejoined his group.

"Who was that?" Amanda smirked. "Was he the hottie from last night at dinner?"

I shook my head as we walked out. "Yes." I rolled my eyes. "His name is David something. We ran into each other last night. Like literally ran into each other."

Carly raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. "He looks like he's got a bit of a crush."

My cheeks flushed and I looked away from the girls. "I doubt it. We've had a total of 5 minutes of conversation. Now, can we focus on what we're here to do?"

Amanda chuckled in a low gravely pitch. "Our girl's got herself a crush too."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't fight off the smile that had crept onto my face. "Whatever." We all went out separate ways to practice for about 15 minutes and met back up at the doors to the auditorium. I saw Carly standing there waiting for Amanda and I with Michael, David and a few other guys chatting. I smiled at everyone as the guys waved at me.

Amanda walked up behind me and whispered in my ear, "There's your boyfriend."

I glared at her but kept the smile I had plastered on my face. "Witch."

She just smiled as she bumped my shoulder. "Everyone ready to go in?" We all nodded and did our introductions as we found a row for the 7 of us. We ended up sitting Carly, Michael Johns, David Cook, myself, Amanda, Luke Menard and Jason Yeager. It was nice to have last names since it seemed like everyone I met here was named David, Michael or Jessica. Got to love parents with no imagination.

David leaned over to me. "Nervous?"

I let out a small laugh. "Very. You?"

"A bit." He nodded. "You know, I'm here by total accident. My brother wanted to audition and wanted me to come with him and somehow I got here and he didn't."

I laughed. "Me too. One of my students wanted me to go with her. She didn't make it past the second round but wanted me to keep going."

David nodded. "You a voice teacher?"

"No. Math and cheerleading."

David leaned back and gave me a look. "Math…I suck at math." I shrugged. "The cheerleading thing is cool, though. Were you a cheerleader in school?"

I shook my head. "No. I danced all throughout high school and college. This cheer thing had been a new experience for me the past year and a half." A movement caught my eye and as I turned my head the crowd began to clap. Paula, Randy and Simon had walked on stage and were addressing us so we stopped our chatting and paid attention to them. We were surprised that no one would get sent home today and were equally surprised that there would be no group performance and you could get moved to the final audition round based on today's performance. It upped the pressure for today's performance but took the stress of trying to create a group and make a silly song sound good. They had given us a list of songs to pick from last night when you checked in that were available to perform today. I picked _Come To My Window_ by Melissa Etheridge. I chose to sing it straight to show off my range. Plus, my lower register wasn't as strong as my middle and upper register and this song would show me off properly. By the time I was supposed to go most of the group I was sitting with had gone and went straight to round 3. It really seemed like playing an instrument was helping and I knew that wasn't my strong suit. I could play the piano enough to help me figure out a melody, but once I started dancing I quit piano lessons and only learned a few songs throughout the years after that. I walked on stage, doing my best to shake my stage freight and caught Carly standing up in the back waving at me. It brought a smile to my face and helped melt my nervous. I did a pretty good job and even got a smirk from Simon. They passed me onto the third round. I was ecstatic because that meant I could sleep in and go see some sights around LA tomorrow. The guys decided we should go out and celebrate tonight so the 7 of us went to a nearby pub to get dinner and drinks with some of their spouses. I was enjoying having a group of people around my age to hang out with but realized that I was hanging back a bit. These people didn't know me and I didn't really know them. It was not my thing to be so open with complete strangers, so I did a lot of listening and nodding while sipping my Crown and Coke and listened to everyone tell their stories. Everyone had such a diverse background and they all had some kind of band or bust music deal or musical theater background. I felt like such a novice compared to them.

"So, what about you, Jessica? What's your story?"

I looked at all the inquisitive eyes and had to swallow hard against the lump in my throat. "Well, I'm a 8th and 9th grade math teacher and I coach the high school cheerleading team. I've been singing since I was little but nothing as formal as any of you. This kind of just fell in my lap and I'm going to ride it as far as I can." I looked down at my drink trying to avoid the eyes I swore were judging me.

"She dances too." David proclaimed. I looked up and he smiled at me.

"You do?" Michael got a gleam in his eye. His wife elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah…did. I was on the dance team in jr. high, high school and college. I've also been doing competitive dance and studio work since I was 8. I still go to studio classes on occasion, but it's hard to fit it in between school work and games." I took a sip of my drink. "Maybe I should have tried out for _So You Think You Can Dance_ instead." Everyone laughed.

David shook his head. "You've got a great voice. I see why they picked you to be here. You're one of those 'diamond in the rough' types."

I smiled. "Thank you."

David grabbed my glass. "Want a refill?"

I looked around and realized everyone was on their third or forth drink and this was still my first. I stood up. "Sure. I'll go with you."

"Anyone else?" David pointed with the bottom of his beer bottle to the other people at the table. They all shook their heads. David shrugged and we walked to the bar to wait on a server. We stood their quietly waiting then David bumped my arm with his. "You really are good. Singing, I mean."

"Thanks." I blushed.

David nervously bounced as he stood next to me. "I mean, I'm sure you're a good dancer too. I mean you'd have to be for as long as you've done it. I've just never see you dance before so I wouldn't really know." David dropped his head and stood still. "I sound like a putz."

I patted his arm. "Maybe you don't need another beer." He looked up at me and smiled when he saw me smirking at him. "Hey, you want to get out of here? I could use some fresh air." David nodded, caught Michael's attention to tell him that we were leaving then offered his arm as we left our empty drinks on the bar. We walked back across the street to the hotel in silence and in step. David towered over me but he must have been taking short steps as to not drag me along behind him. We walked to the back parking lot to a small grassy area where there were some picnic tables set up. We sat on top of one and looked at the dark sky.

"No stars tonight." David leaned back on his hands.

"I don't think there are stars in LA. Too much city light. Little Rock's the same way." I pulled my feet up so that I was sitting Indian style.

"None in Tulsa either. The joy of city life."

I nodded. "I haven't really seen stars since I lived in Texas. We lived in a little town there and it was beautiful." I tucked some hair behind my ear.

"Where in Texas?"

"I lived in Athens but was born in Tyler."

David nodded. "I was born in Houston."

"Really?" I looked over at him. "Never been to South Texas. Stayed in East Texas until we moved to Arkansas when I was in the 6th grade."

"Big family?" David shifted to get more comfortable.

I shook my head. "No. Just Mom, Dad and I. Only child. I think that's how they could afford all my dance stuff. I cost a fortune." I bumped David's shoulder. "You?"

"Two brothers, Andrew and Adam, and some step sisters. Dad's been married 3 times and mom twice. It gets to be a bit much to keep up with."

"Any nieces or nephews?"

David nodded and I saw his face light up. "A few of both. Love them to pieces. Makes me want to have kids."

I nodded. "I've always been a bigger fan of being an aunt than a mom. I guess teaching really is good birth control." I laughed. "I guess I'll have to marry a man with siblings."

David looked over at me. "You dating anyone?"

I shook my head. "Not since Thanksgiving. My ex and I went to meet his parents over Thanksgiving break. We'd been dating about 6 months and thought it was time to do that type of stuff." I paused and looked at my lap.

"And?"

I bit my bottom lip. "And his mother didn't really like me and made sure I knew it." I shook my head. "She thought being a teacher was just glorified babysitting and that I got paid way too much to do that. She didn't think I was pretty enough to be dating her son and when he told her that I had auditioned for _American Idol_ she informed me that my job as Phil's girlfriend was to support him in his job, he's in the entertainment industry, and that he didn't need to be worrying about my career while his was on the rise right now." I rolled my eyes hearing her voice bounce around in my head.

David looked at me in shock. "Are you serious? She said all that to you?" He shook his head. "What was he doing that was so much more important than your job?"

I paused not sure if I should honestly answer his question. My whole life I had never been normal and that trickled down to my dating life also. I took a deep breath and looked at David. "He's a professional wrestler." David's eyes got wide. "Do you know anything about that…that…" I didn't really know how to phrase my question.

David nodded. "Yeah, I've watched some off and on throughout the years." He looked at the ground. "Who is he? Anyone I might of heard of?"

I bit my lip again. "Maybe. His real name is Phillip Brooks, but he goes by CM Punk. He's on Tuesday night's ECW show. It's a branch of the WWE."

David looked at me in shock. "You're dating CM Punk?"

"Past tense. Dated. After all the lovely things his mother said about me he chose to break it off on the flight back." I shrugged. "It's all for the best. His career really is soaring right now and he needs to be focused on that. And I've been in and out of the wrestling family for years now. It was about time for me to get out. Probably for good this time." I could see the huge list of questions that was scrolling behind David's eyes but decided I didn't want to talk about it anymore. "So what about you? Got a lady back in Tulsa waiting to hear the good news?"

David let out a sigh. "Broke up with my ex a few weeks ago. She didn't want me to come do this. I told her this might be my only shot. She made me choose and I chose this."

"Sorry." I felt my stomach turn.

David shook his head. "It's fine. I was over it anyway and we had only been together for a few months. It's not like she had a ring on her finger or anything." I nodded in understanding as the breeze sent a shiver up my spine. "You cold?"

My mind screamed no. This was such a nice moment but my body was telling a different story. "Yes, a bit." David nodded, stepped off the picnic table and extended his hand to me. "Thanks." I said as I took it. He helped me off the table then put an arm around my shoulder as we walked inside. "Who knew LA was cold?"

David chuckled. "It is January."

"Yeah, I know, but still it's California."

He squeezed my shoulder. "Tomorrow we'll make sure to bring you a jacket." I nodded then blushed realizing that David planned on doing this tomorrow night also. We walked into the hotel and decided to part ways for the night. We said our goodbyes on the elevator with a hug and an awkward silence before it got to David's floor. He waved goodbye as the elevator doors shut to take me to my floor. I hadn't felt this way towards a guy since I had met Phillip for the first time and it was a nice mixture of butterflies in the stomach and my brain trying to tell me to keep focused on the competition but still have fun.


	4. January 9th, 2008

Getting to sleep in while my roommate, Carla, rushed around to get ready had a bit of a nice feel to it. I hadn't heard her sing yesterday, but knowing that she had to sing again today and I didn't gave me hope that maybe tonight she'd be gone and I'd have the room to myself. After 4 years of dorm life in college I wasn't a big fan of roommates. I wanted the next person I lived with to be the person that I was married to. The group of us that had the day off today had decided to spend a few hours out in the town. Since Michael Johns lived in LA, he offered to be our tour guide. We had decided to meet in the lobby at 10am, so everyone could get some sleep and Michael's wife, Stacey, would pick us up so we'd have a car to drive around in. When it was all said and done tt ended up being just Carly, Michael, David, Stacey and myself, which was good since his wife picked us up in a 5 passenger SUV. Michael showed us some of the tourist places and some of his favorite spots. We had lunch at his favorite deli and had dessert at Sprinkle's Cupcakes. It all was much different than I expected. LA seemed so laid back. We ended our tour with an Atlantic Ocean visit so we could all breathe in the fresh ocean air and relax before we headed back to the hotel to start getting ready for our performances the next day. We spent the whole afternoon getting to know each other's backgrounds both personally and musically. Although I felt like a bit of an outsider since everyone had at least 1 album out and I didn't even know where the video tapes of my church musical's were at, they all downplayed their previous experience as just a learning process. I took in everything they said hoping that one day their past would help my future. I really felt a connection to these 3 people that I had never felt before. Of course, part of that could just be the fact that I was hanging around other adults. Being a school teacher really limits your adult friends. It was interesting listening to Carly and Michael talk about married life. How they met their spouse…how things changed once they got married…how the family back in the homeland felt about them marrying an American. They had such wonderfully parallel stories. What was more interesting was glancing over at David to see the same look of total awe towards these 2 people. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one wanting to learn the tricks to a happy future from people who were where I wanted to be personally. It was almost a let down when we had to head back to the hotel to practice, but we had made plans for the whole group to meet for dinner so we could talk about how the second round of auditions went. It wasn't a surprise when we saw that we had all made it to the third round, but there were a lot of tears and a lot of empty seats when we all walked into the ballroom to eat. The feeling in the room tonight was totally different than 2 nights ago. The smugness was replaced with nerves. In fact, whenever a table of people would get too loud or laugh too much, the whole room would turn to look at them. It's like we all felt we were sheep being sent in for a slaughter tomorrow. I was confident in my song choice but not so much in my being able to compete with the much more advanced musicians and singers that were still around. I had picked _Crying_ by Aerosmith, a song I had been singing in karaoke bars since I was 16 years old. I had run through it a couple dozen times and was a little over practicing by the time dinner rolled around. I was glad when David told me he felt the same way about his song and was wondering if I'd like to get a jacket and rejoin him on the picnic tables again tonight. I agreed and after our group all parted ways for the evening he followed me to my room to get my jacket. When we walked in, Carla was packing her stuff up with her cell phone resting on her shoulder as she cussed like a sailor to whoever was on the other line about how the judges wouldn't know talent if it slapped them in the face. I just kept my head down as I quickly grabbed my jacket and headed out the door. It looked like I wasn't going to have to wear my headphones to bed tonight.

"Well, she seemed pleasant." David smirked as he pushed the button for the elevator.

"And that's the longest conversation I've had with her, too." I rolled my eyes. "You know, I love my cell phone and I couldn't live without it, but I at least remove it from my ear every once in a while."

The elevator doors opened and David ushered me on. "And she speaks so eloquently too."

I let out a small laugh. "I've been know to cuss a blue streak, so I won't dog her there."

David looked me up and down. "You don't seem like the type that would use such vulgarity." He tried to stifle a laugh.

I let out a sigh. "I know, damn it. I mean, hell, you would think a lady like myself would have some fucking class, wouldn't you." I couldn't help but smile.

"Well, shit, I've never heard a lady talk so bitch ass sweetly before." We both busted up laughing as I mouthed 'bitch ass' to David. The other people in the elevator all took a step away from us. "Sorry." David waved at the other occupants with us. When the elevator doors opened, everyone rushed out like we had the plague. We just laughed then exited ourselves. We walked out to the picnic tables and sat on top of the same one as we had the night before. There were a lot less cars in the parking lot and every once in a while you'd hear a car door or trunk slam as someone officially left for the night. It was kind of sad to see so many people leave with crushed dreams but it was also a bit of a relief to know you were never even in the judge minds as needing a second chance to remake your first impression. I must have been sitting too quietly thinking because David bumped my shoulder and said, "Whatcha thinking?"

I looked over at him then down at my lap. "Just having a mental pity party. I'm afraid I'm not going to get through the next round."

"Why?"

"Have you heard yourself sing? Or Carly? Or even Amanda? I'm not good enough to compete with you guys." I started picking at my left thumbnail to avoid looking at David.

He placed his left hand on my right knee. "I don't think you've heard yourself sing. I mean, really heard yourself. You're better than half the people that got a free pass to tomorrow. You're definitely better than Amanda." He patted my knee. "You need to believe in yourself or you're not going to make it through based on confidence."

I turned to look at David. "But how do I compete with people who've got past musical experience or can play an instrument?" I shook my head. "They aren't looking for the next school teacher with this much talent." I held up my right thumb and index finger about an inch apart. "They're looking for the next Kelly or Carrie or Daughtry." I pointed at David. "As much as I'd like to be, I haven't been trained to do that. I've been trained to be the next Wade Robson or Darrin Henson."

David frowned. "Who?"

I smiled and laughed. "Pop music video choreographers."

"Oh." David placed his index finger under my chin to make me look at him. "The point of this show is to find the next undiscovered talent. All of us with previous record deals couldn't make it on our own or we wouldn't be here. We're all on the same playing field. You've got just as good a chance as anyone. You just have to believe that."

I nodded. "I do. I guess I've just been told by enough people in my past that I shouldn't pursue singing or dancing that it's hard to tune them out now when I'm nervous like this."

David reached up to tuck some hair behind my ear. The feeling of his hand so close to my face made me close my eyes to truly feel his touch. I felt a shiver run all the way up my spine. "I think you should definitely pursue singing. Now dancing…I haven't seen you dance yet so I wouldn't know." I smiled at him. "Maybe you should dance for me. That way I can be a fair judge."

I leaned back and gave him a look. "What?"

"Dance for me." He reached in his pocket to pull out his IPod. "I want to see you dance."

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"Come one." He prodded. "Just something short. I'll turn the volume up so you can hear it." He started to push me off the picnic table with one hand as he messed with his IPod with the other. "What do you want? Something slow or fast?"

"Neither." I retorted as I got off of the table.

"Can you do all those turns and jumps? Or are you all hip hop?"

I dropped my shoulders realizing I wasn't going to win this fight. "I can do it all." I softly said.

"Good, then what do you want to dance to?" His head was down looking at his IPod in his hands but he cut his eyes up at me as he smirked. That was a look that could irritate you but also send the butterflies crazy in your stomach.

"I can't do turns in this grass and in these shoes, so nothing slow." David nodded. I thought for a moment, mentally going through all the routines I knew that he might have the song for on his IPod. "You wouldn't happen to have NERD's _Rockstar_, would you?" David shook his head. "Hmmm…what about the newest Foo Fighters? _The Pretender_."

David nodded as he scrolled through his music list. "Here you go. I'll turn it up."

I pointed to him as I grabbed my right leg to stretch my hamstring. "You're only getting like 30 seconds."

He nodded. "That's fair. You can give me a whole show later." He raised his eyebrow and leaned back ready to watch.

I shook my head as I stretched out my other leg and rolled my neck. I let the beginning part play as I tried to remember the moves I had choreographed for this a few months ago for the Senior showcase at the last football game. When the chorus began I started to dance but felt like a total idiot doing this in the middle of an upscale hotel parking lot when no one else could hear the music. At one point I looked at David and he had his mouth hanging open as he watched me. I knew that look. It was the same look everyone gave me the first time they saw me dance. A look of total amazement. I did about 15 8-counts then stopped. "You happy now?"

David nodded with his mouth still gapping. "Wow…just wow." David stopped the music. "Do you know how good that was?" I tried to not look too full of myself. "How…wow. That was amazing. Can you teach me?"

"Are you kidding? You want to learn that?" I crossed my arms in disbelief.

"I want to try. I think that would be cool to learn." He hopped off the picnic table. "How do I start?"

"You seriously want to learn?" He nodded. "This isn't an easy dance." He nodded again. "Okay. Well the first thing you have to do is…" I placed my body in the starting position hoping he could mimic me. After about 5 minutes of trying to teach David the first 2 8-counts, we decided to give up and go to my room to watch some TV, laughing the whole time.


	5. April 10th, 2008

It was late and I was both mentally and physically exhausted after this week. We all knew that _Idol Gives Back_ was a huge deal, but we didn't realize that meant not only our individual songs and normal stuff but three group songs and lots of being ignored for the bigger talent that came for last night's show. Granted, it was cool to meet everyone and for me personally, it was nice to have some of my wrestling brothers in the audience for the past three nights. It sucked that only my dad could make it out this week and only for Tuesday night's show but getting the call that John Cena, Triple H and Chris Jericho would be there to support me took the sting out of the fact that my whole family could not. We knew that there would be eliminations tonight and were prepared for it but we were not prepared to hear that it would be Michael Johns who would be leaving us. In fact, I wasn't surprised at all that the bottom three included myself and Carly. Carly did a great job during rehearsals but got ahead of tempo during her performance. And for me…I just picked the wrong song. In theory, it sounded like a good idea to sing _Angel_ by Sarah McLachlan, but once I really got into the lyrics I knew it wasn't right but had no time to change my song. So I just did the best with what I had to work with and expected to be sent home. Especially after all three judges told me I sang it well but that the song choice was one hundred percent wrong. America typically listens to what they have to say, so I had said all my goodbyes to everyone last night and even called my parents to have them schedule me a hair appointment with my regular lady. When I was sent back to safety first, I was in total shock. And then when they said it would be Michael leaving us I felt physically ill. The only person with a worse reaction was my David. He looked so pissed. His mood lightened when we did our goodbye roast, but I felt worse. I felt like I stole a spot from a much more talented person. Michael told me to shake it off and focus on next week, but it was hard to look at David and know the girlfriend stayed and the best friend left. When we got back from dinner, most everyone decided to hang out in the boy's apartment to get a little more time with Michael before he left, but I decided to head back to my apartment to get a little alone time. I was really sulking in my pity party and was tired of doing it around other people. I walked into mine and Carly's quiet apartment and went straight into my bedroom. I took my jewelry off then fished out my pajamas. I removed my jeans and green halter top and put them in the dirty laundry basket. I took my bra off and put it in the top drawer of my dresser then put my spaghetti strap black tank top on with my pajama pants that were covered with little rubber ducks. I walked into the bathroom, pulled my hair up in a messy ponytail and started to take my make up off. Looking at my reflection in the mirror showed how worn out I was. The black circles under my eyes were no longer leftover mascara. I needed a break but knew there was no 'taking a break' until America chose it and they gave me at least one more week to try. After brushing my teeth, I walked into my bedroom and grabbed my glasses and the book I was currently reading. As tired as I was I still wasn't ready to wind down just yet and I was getting to a good part in the book. I pulled back the covers and propped my pillows up so I could read comfortably in bed. I hadn't gotten more than ten minutes into my book when I heard a knock at the front door. I placed my bookmark in place and set the book and my glasses on my nightstand before going to see who was knocking. I wasn't surprised to see David with his head hung down when I looked through the peephole. David had been spending the past few nights here to escape all the testosterone in his apartment. I opened the door and extended my hand out to David. He took it and entered into the apartment.

"Is he gone?"

David shook his head. "Not yet." I pulled him into me and kissed his chest. "Thanks. I needed that. You okay?"

I nodded. "I have no choice." David kissed the top of my head. "You staying here tonight?" It was a dumb question seeing as how David was in flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt, his pre-bed outfit.

"If you don't mind." David lifted my chin so I could look him in the eyes. "You didn't deserve to be in the bottom three. You know that, right?" I tried to look away from him, but he wouldn't let me. "You didn't." He kissed my forehead. "You did better than me Tuesday night." He kissed my nose. "I should have been in the bottom three before you." I shook my head but before I could say anything, he kissed me softly on my lips. He whispered, "I'm glad you're still here."

I smiled at David as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Me too." I tucked my head under his chin to listen to his heart beat. David wrapped one arm around me as he reached up and took the ponytail holder out of my hair so that I was surrounded in a blanket of brown hair. He dropped the ponytail holder on the floor and ran his hand through my hair. I heard his heartbeat quicken and could feel his breath on the top of my head. "Let's go to bed."

David took me by the hand and led me into my bedroom. "What time did you set your alarm for?"

"8am." I said as I closed the door to the bedroom. "They said we didn't have to be at the rehearsal studio until 10am, so I figured get as much sleep as possible." David turned to look at me and the look in his eyes made me shiver. "What?" He shook his head as he walked over to me. I felt my whole body tingle as he reached out with one finger and ran it from the top of my right shoulder down my arm. I wanted to watch his hand on my body, but couldn't break his gaze into my eyes.

"I love you." I blushed and quickly looked away from his before I reengaged his gaze. He almost growled, "I want to make love to you." Before I could even react to David's statement, he had placed both hands on my face and pulled me into a hard but sensuous kiss. As out tongues began to dance, he entwined his hands in my hair, pulling me into his body. I could feel his intentions against my stomach as I ran my hands under the back of his shirt, feeling his muscles react to my soft touch. I lightly ran my nails down his back then grabbed for the hem of his shirt. We separated out bodies long enough for me to remove his shirt and see the pure desire in his eyes. Before I could blink, David leaned down and began to assault my neck as I leaned my head to the side to give him better access and let out a soft moan. I could feel the smile that crossed his lips as he kissed my collarbone, his scruffy chin scraping my skin. He used one hand to move a strap of my tank top as the other caressed my breast through cloth. I quickly removed my pajama pants and kicked them to the side of the room before reaching for his pajama pants to do the same. David stopped long enough to ask, "Do you want to do this?"

I nodded. "Yes." David smiled at me as I smiled at him. "I love you." I reached up and placed the softest kiss on his swollen bottom lip before tracing his mouth with my tongue. He reached for the hem of my tank top as he turned our bodies so that my back was to the bed. He stopped our kiss long enough to remove my top then pressed his hot flesh against mine as he slowly laid me down on the bed. Once I was lying down, David slowed the pace and began to cover every single inch of my flesh in soft kisses. By the time he reached the top of my right breast, I thought I was going to go crazy. He took his thumb and ran it over my left nipple as he began to softly lick my right one. I threw my head back and moaned much louder than I expected which encouraged him to work harder at his current destination. I ran one hand through his hair as I grasped the pillow with the other. If he could make me feel this intensely at this point I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it when we went further. David traded breasts and used his left hand to reach down and remove my panties. With a little of my help he got them off of my hips and threw them into the corner of the room. As he moved a bit further south I looked at him and realized that his boxers were missing. Realizing that we were both completely naked together sent a chill down my spine. We were about to have out first time together and the reality of it was setting in. He was beginning to separate my legs when I reached down to make him look at me. I saw the lust in his eyes melt as he saw my concerned look. "Come here."

He moved back up so we could look eye to eye hovering above me but placing no body weight on me. "Do you want to stop?" His voice shook.

I shook my head. "No." I looked away from his hot gaze. "I just want this to be pure, you know."

David smiled and leaned down to softly kiss my cheek as he whispered, "Anything you want." He kissed my ear then positioned himself to start the act all this was leading up to. "Are you sure?" I nodded and he slowly began to insert himself into me as we shared a passionate kiss. Once I had his whole self inside me, we stopped to let my body become accustomed to this visitor before he slowly started to move. Every upward movement had a moan escaping out of one or both of us. I had never made love this slowly and this deliberately before and it was almost sensory overload. As the minutes passed the intensity increased as did our speed. At some point I had wrapped my legs around his waist to deepen our pleasure and I could feel that David was getting close, as was I. David's moans became grunting as his natural animalistic side come through causing me to dig my nails in his back as I felt my peek approach. I felt a shiver come over David as his muscles tightened under my legs. I tried my best to keep my eyes open to watch him as both our moments came and went. The feeling of him inside me was beautiful and natural. Once we both regained out regular breathing patterns, David rolled to my side, pulled the sheet up over our bodies and pulled me into him. "You okay?"

I let out a soft sigh as I snuggled into him. "Perfect."

"I love you."

"I love you." David kissed my forehead then reached back to turn off my bedside lamp as we relaxed in each other's arms for the night.


	6. April 11th, 2008

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm screeched like a cat having its tail pulled. I unwrapped my hand from inside my pillowcase to turn the retched noise off. I opened my eyes long enough to see the red glow of 8:01am. I closed them and turned my head hoping that I was dreaming. I snuggled my pillow up to my face as the aroma of coffee crept into my nose. At least I knew Carly was up. A shiver went down my back and I opened my eyes to see I was in bed alone. As I started to close them again, the realization that there was no fabric between my skin and the sheet that was covering me from the neck down hit me as a smile crept across my dry lips. I rolled onto my back and started to stretch my limbs when a pleasurable pain shot in my groin reminding me of the previous night's activity. Although we were both as gentle as our libidos would let us be, it had been such a long time since I had shared my body that my muscles weren't accustom to the extra work. I heard the bedroom door click, so I reached down to cover my bare breasts with the sheet as I sat up and propped myself against the headboard.

"Good morning." David greeted me in only his pajama pants with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Did you sleep well?"

I smiled and nodded as he sat next to me on the bed, pulling the sheet tight around my breast. "You?"

"Perfectly." He leaned in to kiss me, but I held up my hand to cover his lips. "What?" He mumbled behind my hand then kissed my palm.

"Morning breath." I scrunched up my face.

"I don't care." He said as he raised one eyebrow, so I dropped my hand and let him kiss me as my hand instantly began to rub his bare back. He let out a soft moan, smiled then handed me the cup of coffee he held in his hands. "Sore?"

I took a sip and closed my eyes as the Starbucks Breakfast Brew warmed my chest. "A bit."

David leaned in to kiss my forehead. "Sorry." He leaned back and we just looked at each other. I had never felt the way I felt for David for anyone before and it was a strange mixture of elation and fear and the look in his eyes told me he felt the same way. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Kiss me." I set the coffee cup on the nightstand next to my book then placed both hands behind his head to guide his lips to mine. A simple, soft kiss was followed by a warm embrace. I didn't want to let him go, but I knew that the _American Idol_ machine stopped for no one, so I kissed his bare shoulder then broke our embrace.

"Got to get ready?" David asked. I nodded. "I'll see you downstairs."

"Okay."

David got up and started looking for his t-shirt. When he found it, he threw it at me. "Wear this today." I nodded and as he walked out of the room, breathed in his scent from the shirt. His voice sounded both forceful and seductive and it instantly turned me on. I set it aside and uncovered myself. I found my pajamas and put them on as I grabbed my coffee and walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning." Carly greeted me by raising her coffee cup.

"Morning."

"Did you have a good night last night?" I raised an eyebrow at Carly, questioning what she really meant. She blushed. "I heard you two last night. I tried not to and once I realized what I was hearing, I put my headphones on."

I ducked my head. "You're kidding, right?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize…"

Carly cut me off. "Don't worry about it. It's not like you haven't heard me and Todd before." I nodded in agreement. "How was it?"

I tried to look at Carly shocked, but I couldn't help but smile. "As close to perfection as it can be your first time."

Carly set her empty coffee cup in the sink. "Were you at least careful?"

I let out a small laugh. "I've been on the pill since I was sixteen. There's no worries."

Carly playfully raised an eyebrow at me. "Are you that promiscuous?"

I gently kicked at her. "No. He's only the third person I've even been with and the first in almost five years."

"I know about the high school boyfriend," Carly stifled a yawn. "I guess the second was one of your wrestler boyfriends. Which one?"

I blushed at the thought. "Jeff Hardy. The one I dated my sophomore and junior year of college."

"Never with Phillip?"

I shook my head. "We were just getting to that stage when we broke up." I shrugged. "You're not mad, are you?"

Carly tilted her head to the side. "That you never had sex with a guy who goes by the name of Punk?"

"No." I rolled my eyes. "That David and I…that we…you know, here in the apartment."

Carly smiled. "As long as you don't do it in my room and you give me some warning sign or something so I don't have to listen, I'm fine." Carly reached out to grab my arm. "You do know that there will be some people who disapprove if they find out."

I nodded. "I know. I'm even more worried about if the producers find out." I took a sip of my coffee.

"You know, John Cena did ask me Tuesday night if you were knocking boots with anyone." Carly laughed. "You have some interesting friends."

"You do know that John and I dated for a little while before Phil and I hooked up." I finished my coffee and placed my cup in the sink next to Carly's.

"Is there any wrestler you haven't dated?"

I jokingly replied, "Not really." Carly laughed. "I've got to get a shower."

"While you're in there, try to wash that 'I just got laid' look off you face or people will start to wonder." I flipped Carly of as I walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom to get ready for the day.


	7. April 13th, 2008

Today has been one long day. Sunday's we always shoot the Ford Music Video in the mornings then have the afternoons off to relax and go out into the city. It didn't take us long to get the video shot. Only 30 minutes of rehearsal and about 2 hours of shooting. We were done well before lunch. It seemed like this was one of out easiest shoots so far. We did a group lunch on set then parted to do our different day off activities. Brooke had gotten a copy of her sister's wedding, so she and her husband were going to sit down and watch it at her apartment. Jason and Kristy were going to see a movie. Carly knew our apartment would be empty, so she had planned a little intimate rendezvous with her husband. Plus, I owed her one for being cool about David spending the night on Thursday. David A was going to be rehearsing with his drill sergeant of a father. I think Harvey from _Celebrity Fit Club_ was nicer than Jeff Archuleta. My David was going to be helping to get things ready for his brother and sister-in-law to come in for Tuesday's show. Me…instead of being the good girlfriend and helping David get ready or being a normal person and getting out for the day I decided to spend my WHOLE afternoon at the hair salon. I had said that if I made it through _Idol Gives Back_ that I was going to make a dramatic change and I'm the kind of person who sticks to their word.

So my Sunday afternoon, for 6 hours straight , I sat in a chair at the salon going from a brunette to a blonde. And not just any type of blonde, a BLONDE blonde. The kind of blonde that would make Kristy and Brooke look like they hadn't washed their hair in days. My closest friends at this show, Carly and David, were very excited to see me. In fact, when I told David about the color choice, his statement was, "I've never been with a blonde before" to which I jokingly retorted, "You've hardly been with anyone before." He tried to shoot me an evil glare but that never really seems to work for him. He always ends up look just a little bit goofy. Of course, that's part of why I've fallen in love with him. So, I went to the salon that our hair people recommended that was nice enough to open just for me to start my multi-hour makeover of bleaching, washing, bleaching, washing, toning, washing, toning, washing then cut and style. I swear I had the cleanest head of hair in all of LA. This process took so long that I missed our group dinner. By the time I got back to our apartments, most people had already holed themselves up in their apartments to get to bed early since we had a 6:30am rehearsal time tomorrow. When I walked in my apartment, Carly was curled up on the couch with her husband half watching half sleeping through a movie. She didn't even notice I had walked in but Todd nodded at me and smiled. I nodded back then went into my bedroom to change into some pajamas to get more comfortable.

I kept looking at myself trying to get used to this new look. It had been almost two years since the last time I was blonde and I had never been this blonde before. I couldn't wait to hear what my parents had to say when they would see me on TV Tuesday night. I hated that they couldn't come to see me every week in LA, but I understood. With Mom being a teacher and Dad working for the state there was no way they could afford to take time off, fly from Arkansas to California every week and stay in a hotel. I sometimes think that fact helps me voting wise. The audience feels bad for the poor little Arkansas math teacher that has no one in the audience most weeks to support her. I'd prefer to get votes for my singing, but I'll take everything I can get. Once I had decided it was time to stop being a narcissist and give the mirror a rest I went into the bathroom to take my makeup off and brush my teeth. I knew I wanted to go to bed soon, but I wanted to try to see David before hand. When I walked out of the bathroom I could still hear the TV but Todd and Carly where no where to be seen. I figured that either Carly had woken and was ready for round 2 or 3 or whatever number they might be on by now or Todd was putting her to bed for the night. Although there was no "official" rule against significant others spending the night it was frowned upon. That was part of the reason David and I had to be so careful about spending the night together. We didn't want to get in trouble, but it was hard to be across the hall from each other and not spend every moment together.

Since we had literally ran into each other in the hotel lobby during Hollywood Week there had been an instant connection. I'm not sure I'd say love at first sight but what I did see intrigued me and it was very obvious that it intrigued him too. By top 24 we had our first kiss. By top 12 we were an official couple and before midnight of the night Michael was kicked off to make it be the top 7, we had become lovers. Some of the contestants were happy for us. Some thought we shouldn't be mixing business with pleasure and some didn't really care one way or the other. We just knew that we had a great story to tell our grandkids about how we met. I quietly shut the door to mine and Carly's apartment and was gently knocking on the door of the apartment that contained my David, Jason and the newest roommate David Archuleta. I could hear a guitar playing softly inside then stop and was greeting by Jason.

He smiled at me and said, "Archie's already in bed and David just went to bed like 10 minutes ago."

I thanked him then very quietly opened the door to my David's room. He had his headphones on and looked to already be asleep. He had the comforter pushed to the foot of the bed and the sheet hit him at about mid-chest. He had no shirt on and his bleeding heart tattoo was rising and falling with every breath he took in. He had both hands behind his head and he had a small smile currently placed on his angelic face. When he slept he looked so sweet and innocent. Less like a 25 year old man that had had a rough couple of weeks and more like a teenage who would wake up in the morning full of life and ready to go. I knew his brother coming up would be a good thing for him.

I quietly crept across the room towards the bed, gently lifted the sheet and as delicately as possible slid in next to him resting my head on his left arm right at his AC tattoo as I laid my left hand on his chest. He didn't wake, but shifted accordingly to the new body in the bed with him. I snuggled up and breathed his scent in. I always found it funny that his nickname from the fans was Cookie and he did actually have a sweet but musky scent to him that made him smell faintly of ginger snaps. I let out a little sigh as his arm that I was resting my head on moved from under his head to around my shoulder. I gave him a soft kiss on his cheek, not planning on spending much time here with him so we both could get out sleep, but once he let out a soft moan and pulled me closer, I couldn't force myself to move. I kept kissing his cheek and his neck with the softest of kisses as my hand that now lay on his more heaving chest lightly ran across this bare flesh. To be a dark headed boy, he had very little chest hair and what he had was a very light brown. With a little bit of sun it would turn a soft blonde and you wouldn't be able to see it at all.

I'm not sure when he took his headphone off, since I was caught up in the sensuousness of the situation but I was aware when my hand had gotten low enough to find the only piece of clothing he had on. I was very glad my man was a boxer's guy. Without thinking I went from snuggling up next to him with a wandering hand to halfway down the bed unbuttoning his boxers. I have never been a big fan of what I was about to do before. Your past always seems to haunt you, but I'd always been told that when you were with the right person you would do the things you normally wouldn't and enjoy them for once. I never saw him open his eyes, but I did feel him move my hair for me and I could hear him go from soft moaning to seductively talking to me. I knew this was one of those things that he wouldn't be able to sleep through, for too long anyway. I was tender and he kept his voice low so no one in the bedrooms nearby would hear. As open as we were about being together, we didn't want everyone to know everything. I could tell he was getting close by the lifting of his hips, the tightening of this stomach muscles and the slight unintentional tug on the handful he had of my hair. When his moment had passed, his entire body relaxed as he pulled me up to lay next to him. He tucked me in his side as he gave me a soft kiss.

"I like the hair…not that I can see it." He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose.

"Thanks. I wanted to surprise you."

David chuckled. "You defiantly did. Not that I'm complaining, but what brought that on?"

I blushed as I buried my face in his shoulder. "I don't know. It just felt right."

He smiled as he took his index finger to move some hair out of my face. "Damn right it did." I blushed again as he kissed my forehead. "Stay here with me tonight. I don't want you to go."

I propped myself up on my right elbow to look at him in the face. "You sure? I don't want to upset anyone."

He reached up and tucked some hair behind my ear. "No one will be upset. And if they are, they can talk to me about it. Now come here." He reached up to pull me back down beside him. "I sleep so much better with you by my side." He kissed me on the forehead again then pulled the sheet up over us. I nestled in his arm and as I began to relax my breathing began to match his. I heard him softly began to snore as I drifted off to sleep.


	8. April 14th, 2008

"Jess. Jessica. Honey, wake up." David stroked my hair as he softly spoke to me. "It's 5 o'clock. It's time to wake up." I grunted and rolled over so my back was facing him, pulling the sheet up over my shoulder, but it was caught on his arm, so my back was exposed. David moved my hair and placed soft kisses on my upper back, right below the ladybug tattoo on my neck. "You've got to get up. We have to be at the rehearsal studio in a little over an hour."

I let out a sigh and looked over my right shoulder at him. "I know." I breathed out. "I'm getting up."

David leaned down to kiss my lips then my forehead. "Go get ready and I'll see you at breakfast." I nodded, reached up to kiss him again then threw back the sheet to get out of the bed. "I really do like your hair, babe."

I smiled and let out a small laugh. "Thanks." I put my pajama pants on then leaned down to kiss his forehead. "I'll see you in a few." David smiled and winked at me then I slowly turned the door knob from his bedroom to the living room. I didn't see anyone or hear any noise so I quietly shut his door and began to walk to the front door when I heard a throat get cleared. I froze in my tracks and looked over my left shoulder to the kitchen where the noise came from. I saw Jeff Archuleta sitting at the small kitchen table with the newspaper and a cup of coffee.

"Where do you think you are going?"

I gave him a weak smile and replied, "To my room to get ready."

Jeff closed his paper and set in on the table. "I don't want my son around this kind of behavior. He's better than that."

The tone in Jeff's voice instantly pissed me off but I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. "Don't worry. He wasn't around this. When I came over last night he was already in bed and he's not seeing me leave now, is he?" Jeff frowned at me. "It's not like he doesn't know we are together."

Jeff shook his head as he picked up his cup of coffee. "I want you to know I don't approve of this behavior."

I shrugged my shoulders as I walked towards the front door. "Well then go tell the producers. I know you want to." I rolled my eyes as I left the boys apartment. The sound of Jeff Archuleta's voice made my skin crawl and he was definitely putting a damper on the good mood I was in less than 2 minutes ago. I had never spent the night at David's apartment, although Michael and Jason didn't really care that much. It had just seemed easier for David to stay at my apartment since it was just Carly and I since Amanda had been kicked off 3 weeks ago. Carly and I looked at it as a trade. She was cool with David staying over and he and I doing anything we wanted as long as I helped her sneak Todd in and be cool with his staying over as often as possible.

I opened the door to my apartment to the sound of the local news on the TV. Carly was standing in the kitchen with a towel around her head washing dishes. "Hey. I like your hair." I smiled at her. "Did you even come home last night?"

I let out a small laugh as I shrugged. "Yeah, for about 30 minutes. Stayed over at David's last night."

Carly gave me a half smile. "Have fun?"

I shook my head no. "Up until about 5 minutes ago." She gave me a confused look. "I'm going to get a shower. I'll tell you about it later."

Carly scrunched her eyebrows and it seemed to crank up her accent. "Okay. Well, I hope you don't mind, but I had to use your shampoo. I'm out and haven't had a chance to go get some." I nodded then went into my room to get the clothes I was going to change into.

One thing you learned while working on this show was how to get ready as fast as possible and how to survive on little sleep. It used to take me 2 hours to get ready in the morning. Shower, blow dry my hair, put on make-up, straighten or curl my hair, depending on my mood then get dressed. I somehow streamlined that into a 45 minute process in the weeks since I joined the show. I wish I had learned this back in college so I could have slept in more then.

Carly and I were walking out of our apartment at 6:22am to get on the van to take us to the rehearsal studio where breakfast was being served. I never really ate breakfast. A glass of cranberry juice and sometimes a plain bagel was all I'd ever have. Breakfast is David's favorite meal of the day so if I ever wanted something more, I'd just steal it from his plate. He always got more than he needed.

We had all become a family and each one of us had a roll we'd fill. Michael and I were the official mom and dad since we were the oldest which made it even harder when Michael had to leave. Carly was the cool aunt. Brooke was the kooky aunt. David Cook was the cool older brother. Kristy and Jason had the tendency to be the annoying little siblings, but Kristy was worse about it. David Archuleta was the little brother that you never knew you had. You wanted to get to know him and teach him the real ways of the world, but his dad was always in the way.

As I got in line to get my juice, David could tell something was bothering me, but he was so excited about the waffles that he was being served that he decided it could wait until we sat down to eat before he asked. To be so few of us now it seemed like we were all spread out in this dining hall. I was in line behind Carly and David silently people watching as I walked through the line. It was very obvious that although we were one big family that we also had our clicks and most of the time sat with the same people at every meal. Although we would mix it up every once in a while, one thing was guaranteed, if Jeff Archuleta was at a meal, he and his son were always at a table by themselves. We kind of felt bad for David but we had all at one point had out run-ins with Jeff and never really wanted to tempt fate if we didn't have to.

I was slowly following my David across the room from the serving line to our usual table when a hand reached out and grabbed my arm. I turned to look at who had a hold of me and saw Jeff at his table alone. "I want to talk to you."

I turned to face him and set my juice down on his table. "Do you really wan to do this here?" Jeff looked at me like he was ready to rumble. "Let me guess, you've talk to the producers and they aren't happy."

He shook his head. "Not yet. I wanted to give you a chance to change your ways." I rolled my eyes at him. "I don't want my son around this kind of behavior and I'm sure your father wouldn't want you to be portraying yourself in this manner either."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "My father understands that I'm a 26 year old woman who makes her own choices. And whether he approves or not is none of your business."

"My son is too innocent to be scarred by your sexual atrociousness."

I looked at him disgusted and placed one hand on my hip. "Your son is too innocent because you won't let him experience life. He's mentally 10 years old because of you."

Jeff stood up and even though he's a little shorter than average, he was still towering over my petite 5'3" frame. "I don't want David to know about your sinful ways. He's better than that and he's better than you."

I had heard enough. I turned to walk away, totally forgetting about my juice when I looked over my shoulder at him and said, "Don't worry. I don't plan on sleeping with your David, so I think we're all fine." I whipped my head around and saw that most of the room was silent and they were all looking in our direction. I started walking towards the table where Carly and David were sitting. Carly looked at me confused and David looked half pissed and half surprised. I knew they didn't hear really any of our conversation, but you could tell by our body language that we weren't having a pleasant conversation. I was so furious with the situation that I had no intentions of sitting while others ate their breakfast. I knew that there was a small room on the other side of the back door to the dining hall that had mirrored walls and a stereo that I used to dance in when I needed to relieve some tension. Who knew all those years of jazz, ballet and hip hop classes and being on my school's dance team would be my first go to when I needed a stress reliever.

I had made it halfway across the room when one word stopped me in my tracks. "Whore!" It was said with such disdain that it sent a shiver up my spine. For a moment time stopped as I tried to think of how to respond. My focus was on the door I wanted to go out so badly but to my right I could see my David start to rise in his seat, as if in slow motion, and Carly grab him by the arm to keep him there. She knew this was my battle. She always seemed to know exactly what I was thinking and what I needed at any given moment. I truly believe I had found a life long friend and soul mate in her.

Without looking over my shoulder or having any inflection in my voice I responded to the hurtful name. "There goes your son's innocence. Now you're going to have to explain to him why you declared me a whore in front of everyone." I took a deep breath expecting the world to explode behind me then kept walking until I was out of the dining hall and in the safety of my little dance studio. I shut the door behind me and locked it so no one could come in and ask me what was going on without my permission. I leaned against the door trying to block the small window as I tried to breathe and keep myself from falling apart emotionally.

I tried to ignore the tear that ran down my cheek as I wiped it away and kicked off my shoes. I plugged the IPod I had in my pocket into the stereo and searched for my dance playlist. I picked _One Song Glory_ from the _Rent_ soundtrack. Since we started rehearsing _Seasons of Love_ I had been on a _Rent_ kick. As the first chords began to play I rolled my neck and shook out my arms as I walked to the middle of the room. I had been a math education major in college with a dance minor. This was one of my favorite and most passionate pieces from my senior showcase and one of my go to pieces whenever the school I was teaching at was having a talent show. I even took it and condensed it down for one of the girls on the dance team to take to competition last year as a solo. The dance team always thought it was funny that I went to college to dance but I was coaching the cheerleaders. I always was a fan of a challenge.

I started to dance and before the second verse started I was signing along with it as I danced. I could feel eyes watching me and knew my David was standing outside. He had learned that dancing was my stress reducer and to not interrupt me so he waited and watched. He could hear the passion in my voice and could see the drama in my moves but wasn't prepared to see the tears streaming down my face. As the last note played I landed my fouette turn and just stared at myself in the mirror. My face was red from crying and anger and against my new blonde hair looked even redder. I was in a t-shirt that said "Taylor is NOT my Idol" with black warm up pants. It's like my mind knew I was going to need to be dressed properly for this event even if I had no clue it was coming. I heard a soft rap at the window of the door and out of the corner of my eyes saw David's eyes pleading me to let him in. I dropped my hands from their ending position, pressed stop on my IPod, which had started playing _Dirty_ by Christina Aguilera, and walked over to the door to unlock it.

David just barely opened the door to say, "Can I come in?" I nodded as I walked to the center of the room. "Are you okay?"

David walked over to me and reached out to wipe my face but I pulled away from him. "I'm fine." I wiped my face myself.

David started to reach out towards me again but pulled his hand away. "What went on out there?" I turned away from him and began to fiddle with my IPod. "Jessica? Talk to me. I'm going to kick his ass but I'd like to know why. Tell me what went on."

I shook my head. "Nothing."

David grabbed my shoulder and turned me around looking a bit annoyed at my defiance. "Jessica!"

I let out a sigh as I dropped my shoulders and my gaze. "Jeff caught me leaving your room this morning." David took a big breath and nodded. "We kind of exchanged some words this morning and then a bit ago that then led to him professing I was a whore to everyone." Another tear slid down my cheek but I didn't pull away when David reached out to wipe it away. I let out a sigh. "I know what we are doing isn't always the most 'moral' thing but we aren't hurting anyone and I don't think we are hurting or demoralizing his precious son."

David reached out for my hands and I took his instinctively. "We aren't doing anything wrong and even if we were it would be none of his business." He rubbed the top of my hands with his thumbs. "Don't worry about Jeff. I'll talk care of him."

I shook my head. "Don't. Let's just move on. Maybe he's had his say and it will be over now."

David was about to open his mouth to respond when I heard another soft rap on the window of the door and saw David Archuleta looking at me with his saucer like brown eyes. I nodded for him to come in as my David wrapped me up in his arms. "Jessica?" He opened the door but did not enter. "Are you okay?" I nodded and he took a few steps towards me. "What was going on out there? Why did my dad call you that?"

I gave him a sweet smile as I ran my hand over his cheek. "You're too innocent. You know that, right?" I let out a sigh. "I can't answer that for you right now. You need to talk to your dad about this one." I grabbed my IPod and shoes and pushed past David in the doorway. He started to speak but I cut him off. "Ask your dad. If you still have questions, then come to me and I'll answer anything for you, but ask him first." I walked past him with my David following behind.

I spent the rest of the morning hiding in either the rehearsal studio with the live band, in the recording studio or in one of the private rehearsal rooms. If people came up to me I just told them I was worried about my song and I really needed to be alone to practice. Since it was Mariah Carey week and everyone was nervous, people understood and left me alone. And I wasn't totally lying. I had a good song and a good arrangement but I wanted to make sure I made it my own. Of all weeks this one did worry me the most since I had been labeled the "female rocker" and people didn't really know if I could do rangy pop. I thought I was home free since lunch was almost here and we would be getting ready to practice onstage after until I saw Simon Fuller walk in the dining hall were I was sitting by myself. He made eye contact with me and started walking towards me. I ducked my head as he approached. He sat in the seat next to me placing both his hands on the table.

"I heard you had an interesting breakfast." I nodded but didn't look at him. "Do you want to tell me your side of it?"

I shook my head. "Just tell me if I'm kicked off, please. I can go pack while everyone's having lunch." I rolled my eyes at myself and tucked my hands in my lap.

"I don't see why you'd need to pack up and leave. We don't normally kick people off for other people yelling things at them."

I looked at Simon surprised. "You mean Mr. Archuleta hasn't come and talked to you?"

Simon shook his head. "No. Of course I can figure he was yelling at you about you and David Cook." I looked at him again surprised, my jaw hitting the floor. I didn't know any of the producers knew. "I guess I'm right. I want you to know that we're not overly happy about you two, but it's just that Nigel, Ken and I don't want either of you to loose focus. If you keep up on stage what you both have been doing and keep your relationship as subtle as you can backstage, we can't get mad at you since there's no 'official' rule against inter-contestant relations. Just don't do anything to make us create a rule." Simon patted my knee. "Don't worry about Jeff. He's not in charge of you. You just keep on truckin'."

I smiled at Simon as he got up and left. People were starting to come in the dining hall so I tried my best to avoid eye contact so no one would come over and ask about the morning's events but noticed a body occupy the seat that Simon left just moments ago.

"Jessica?" I looked up to see the concerned face of David Archuleta. "I talked to my dad this morning like you said and I don't believe his answer." I looked around the room to see Jeff at his usual table across the room giving us the eye. "So can I ask you what happened now?"

I gave him a smile. "What exactly did your dad say?"

David lowered his eyes and his voice. "He said that he was calling you out for trying to sleep with all the guys on the show but I know that's not true. You love David." I felt a hand rest on my shoulder then give it a light squeeze. I knew it was my David but I had no idea how long he had been standing there. "So what was he really mad about this morning?"

I grabbed little David's hands. "I think that we should have this conversation in front of your dad. I want him to hear what I'm going to tell you." David nodded and we got up to walk over to his dad. I could feel my David in step behind me so I looked over my shoulder and said, "Let me do this on my own. We don't want Jeff to feel ganged up on." David gave me a disapproving look but quit walking with us. As we approached Jeff he stood up. "David, please ask me again what you asked me over there."

David looked from his father to me to everyone else who was standing away from us in silence watching. He cleared his throat and licked his lips. "I asked what the argument was you two had earlier."

"And?"

David took a deep breath. "And my dad said you were trying to sleep with all the guys and I didn't believe him." A look of shock washed over Jeff Archuleta's face. I tried to contain my smirk.

"David, last night I came over to your apartment and ended up spending the night in David's room. It wasn't my plan when I came over but it happened none the less. When I was leaving this morning your dad caught me. We had some words. He doesn't want anyone to be a bad moral example for you and my actions of spending the night were considered immoral to your father." I saw Jeff's cheeks get flushed in anger. "We then exchanged more words this morning about the same thing and to make sure his message was etched in stone your father professed me a whore in front of everyone. Now, he's entitled to his opinions, but," I turned to Jeff, "for the record, I am not a whore. I am not trying to sleep with everyone that has a penis and I'm not trying to demoralize your son. I am in a monogamous relationship with another contestant that everyone knows about. If my actions are considered inappropriate behavior for your son, then talk to him about it and nicely ask me to try to not do certain things in front of him. I'm more than willing to be the best role model I can, but within my limits." I gave David a hug and looked at him. "If I ever do anything to offend you or anything you have questions about, please feel free to come talk to me about it." I looked up at Jeff with my arms still around his son. "All you did by calling me a whore was make me mad and make yourself look as un-Christian as possible. It won't change my actions in the slightest." I looked back at David. "Why don't you come eat with David, Carly and I. It will give us all a chance to talk." David nodded and Jeff had to use all his power to restrain himself from saying anything as we walked away.


	9. April 14th to April 16th, 2008

After lunch we all met up at the theater to get our singing order and do a run through of both Tuesday and Wednesday night's show. I was happy to know that I'd be going forth. I hate being first and I'm not a big fan of being last. Being in the middle meant that the judges were warmed up but not yet burned out. I had decided since we were doing Mariah Carey songs I would go all the way as to wear her stiletto style heels in my performance. I am not the type to wear heels at all, flip flops were my thing, so I knew that I needed to practice in them. As soon as I put them on I knew it was going to be a bit of a mess. I was not made to be 5'7". I'm a klutz at 5'3". David did like that I was tall enough to almost look him in the eyes, though. We walked through the beginning sequence where Ryan introduces us all then went to the back to the green room to start individual rehearsals. Most of us would either get our guitars or plug in our IPods to practice. I decided that I should plug in my IPod and walk around to get used to my shoes. Of course when people saw me pacing around they began to worry that Jeff and I had gotten into it again. I calmly smiled and pointed to my feet and the girls all nodded. Jason looked over at my David and said, "I don't get it."

David smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Women and shoes…I don't get it either." He then winked at me as I flipped him off but kept walking around.

It was almost an hour before it was my turn to go on stage but when they called my name I tossed my IPod at David and hurried to backstage. I told the stage manager I wanted to stand by the piano with a mic stand and not have a grand entrance. He nodded, radioed the guys on the stage then pointed me towards the stairs. I grabbed the handrail and began to slowly step down the 15 steps to the back of the stage. As I stepped with my right foot on the fifth step I felt my heel catch and I tumbled down the rest of the way landing hard on my left knee. I instantly grabbed for it and pulled it up to my body as I cried out in pain. This was already my bad knee from 18 years of dancing and at the moment it felt like it was about to explode. I didn't hear any noise from the stage crew nor did I notice that the whole crew on the stage and most of the guys in the green room had come to see what was going on when they heard the thud and the screaming and crying. The only thing I did notice was the taste of blood in my mouth, the throbbing in my head that was matching the throbbing in my back and knee and the fact that it was taking everything I had to just breathe.

The first noise I heard was Dana, our house mom, calling my name. I opened my eyes to see her sitting beside me with a hand on my head and on my hip. "Jessica? Jessica? Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Don't move."

Before I could answer any of her questions I heard a half gasp half cry from the top of the stairs and could see my David running down them towards me, his boots making a thud noise on each step. "Oh my god! Jess, what happened? Are you hurt?"

I nodded but all I could get to come out was "my knee."

David looked up at the stage crew and yelled, "Someone call an ambulance."

I shook my head and reached out to him. "No, no. I'm fine. It's fine. Just help me up."

David shook his head. "No. You need to see a doctor."

I squeezed his arm. "I will, after I rehearse. Just get these damn shoes off me and help me up." David and Dana tried to give me their most stern looks, but I'm hard headed and once I make my mind up, you can't really make me do otherwise. So Dana took my shoes off and David helped me up and hobbled me over to center stage. Although I hadn't asked for one, one of the stage hands brought out a stool for me to sit on and a mic on a mic stand. David wanted to stay on stage with me, but I waved him off and said into the mic, "I'll go to the doctor as soon as I rehearse." I swear I saw a group sigh from everyone in the room, then they all went back to work and I started to rehearse my song.

I typically would take about 15 to 20 minutes on a Monday run through, but after going over the song twice and feeling like my lungs were collapsing the whole time, I gave it up. If this is what got me kicked off the show, then so be it. When I told them I was done and wanted to go to the doctor now, the stage manager said they had a car waiting for me. As I was limping off stage David came running from stage left up beside me.

"Let me go with you." He urged.

"I thought you went back to the green room." I shook my head. "You need to stay and rehearse. Dana is coming with me so I'll be fine. It's like you with your heart a few weeks ago. I'll call you if it's something serious, but the less of us that go the less will end up on the news. There's already enough coverage about Adam coming. If the media gets wind of you going to the hospital again people are going to think that your hearts acting up again, something went bad with Adam or we're going to get outed." I grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek. "I promise I'll call and tell you what the doctor says." David stuck his bottom lip out to pout but nodded as he squeezed my hand then let me walk off with Dana.

As soon as I got to the doctor they started working on me. After 3 hours of x-ray's, MRI's, CAT scans and poking and prodding me everywhere they possibly could they decided all I needed was some rest, a knee brace and some pain pills. I laughed at the getting rest part but told them the knee brace and pain pills I could do. As we were driving to get my prescription filled I reached in my pocket to get my cell, but came back empty handed. "I must have left it in my room this morning" I thought. I knew I'd be back at the stage soon to rehearse for Wednesday night's stuff, so I'd just tell everyone when I got there. As soon as I limped in the studio, everyone swarmed me.

"Are you okay?"

"What'd they say?"

"We kept waiting for your call."

I smiled as I waved for everyone to calm. "I must have left my phone at the apartment. Sorry I didn't call. The doctor said that I flared up my knee and bruised some ribs pretty bad but everything else was minimal. I just need to wear my knee brace for a couple of days, stay out of heels," everyone laughed, "and take some meds if I'm hurting. I'll be hopping around by tomorrow." Everyone seemed satisfied and David and Jason helped my up the stairs to get on stage.

David whispered in my ear. "Are you really okay? You had me pretty scared."

I smiled at him. "I'm fine. I just may need a nurse tonight." I winked at him. He smiled and winked back.

I tried my best to take it easy Monday night and was actually a bit relieved when David went to go see his brother. I wanted a nurse not a watch dog. But his worry was nice and it gave us a chance to switch places since I hovered over him for 2 days after his hospital run.

Tuesday went by like a blur. Tuesday's always do. The show went rather well. I thought I did a good performance of _My All _even if I had to do it sitting down with flats on. Watching my David sing, though, brought me a chill and tears to my eyes. I could barely hold it together when he started crying and during the commercial when David, Paula, Randy and Simon all hugged Adam I lost it. The makeup people had to touch me up before we did our last call. After the show, David and I went out to eat with his brother and sister-in-law and had just a great night of storytelling and laughs. It was hard to watch David looks at his brother adoringly and hear these stories that were told with such urgency as if Adam knew his time left was short. David got permission to stay the night at his brother's hotel room so they could spend more time together. By the time David got back to the group Wednesday morning he was a bundle of energy. He felt revived to spend time with his family but you could see the worry in his eyes. I did my best to keep in good spirits for everyone's sake since Wednesday's were always so stressful. I was limping around less, the knee brace was helping, but the bruised ribs made it very hard to breathe. I tried my best to not let anyone know. When it came time for the results show the main thing I was worried about was how many times I'd have to go up and down the stairs both on stage and off. I was glad my place to stand during _One Sweet Day_ was on stage and I didn't have to move much or have much of a solo.

I knew when Ryan started separating us into 2 groups that they were doing to save David Archuleta for last and make him choose. What worried me was as I was the fifth person to be called down that David and Kristy were on one side and Jason and Carly were on the other. I was sure it was going to be an all girl bottom 3. I hobbled down the stairs and met Ryan at the center of the stage. I could feel David looking at me and could see the concern on Carly's face. I smiled at Ryan as he began to read from his cards. "Jessica, you sang _My All_. Randy said he knew there was a pop diva in you. Paula loved that you kept it simple with just the piano and bass. Simon said you were the only girl he wasn't worried about." I smiled at the judges as the crowd screamed. "I heard you had a pretty crazy Monday." I looked at Ryan with a smile but fear in my eyes. He wouldn't make me talk about my fight, would he? Did he know about my fight? "You had to be taken to the hospital and everything."

A rush of relief swept over me. I nodded. "Yes. It was a bit crazy." I looked out at the crowd. "How many of you guys are David Cook fans?" The audience erupted. "I know you guys call yourselves Wordnerds, right?" I could tell David was blushing without even looking at him. "And I know you Wordnerds notice every little thing he does. How many of you have noticed him helping all the ladies up and down the stairs tonight?" The crowd erupted again. "Well, at rehearsals Monday I thought I'd try to wear the lovely Mariah Carey heels and ended up falling down the back stairs and messed up my knee." I held up my dress just enough to see my knee brace. "Well, David's been afraid all of us ladies are going to hurt ourselves on these stairs since then so he's been helping us all out. But I'm fine. Just a little sore."

Ryan patted my shoulder. "Well, America's voted and you've got a short walk or hobble over to Jason and Carly." I shot a worried glance at David, but took my spot.

They had Brooke join David and Kristy and left Archie last, like I knew they would. During the commercial break they had us go to the couches to get ready for phone calls and Mariah's song. As David helped me up the stairs he said through gritted teeth, "I can't believe you said that."

I shot him a sweet smile and replied, "Sometimes a hero deserves his moment in the sun even if it did entail a wordnerd reference." I then took my place on the couch between Carly and Brooke.

I hated question time and tonight all the questions seemed to be aimed towards the judges but then I saw the question on the screen for David before Ryan could even greet the person who was calling. I knew this was going to be fun and I could feel the couch wiggle as David fidgeted. The look on his face as this Mallory girl asked if he was single was priceless. He covered his face and turned to me before he answered. I knew he wanted my advice on how to answer the question. I smiled and gave him a quick nod yes. He looked back to the camera. "Which camera do I look into? Yes, yes, yes." We all laughed and Carly bumped my shoulder and gave me a look. I just laughed and clapped as David gave me another embarrassed look.

After that question, even though eliminations were looming, we all seemed to be in a lighter mood. I was relieved when they had Carly and David switch groups, although I didn't want Carly to go home either. I did think the 'too many cooks in the kitchen' comment from Ryan was clever, though. As harsh as people think Ryan is when he does stuff like that, we all realize it is a TV show and they have to do that kind of stuff for the viewers. I was sad to see Kristy go, but she and I never really had jelled great so I wasn't overly upset. Plus, we were to the point where we knew we would all be spending the whole summer together so it's not like it was goodbye forever. When the show was over we said our goodbyes to Kristy then I went back to the apartment to get some rest. My knee was really bothering me after all the stairs today and I wanted to let David say goodbye to his brother in piece.


End file.
